Category: News and Trends

On strict party lines, the Senate Banking Committee yesterday approved the Trump Administration’s nomination of Mark Calabria as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Black Knight, Jacksonville, Fla., released its January First Look Mortgage Monitor, reporting loan prepayments fell to an 18-year low as seasonal home sales reductions outweighed a rise in refinance incentives.

A study from MetaSource, Salt Lake City, said closing disclosures and other requirements imposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s late 2015 enhanced disclosure rules continue to pose quality control challenges.

Commercial property market supply and demand fundamentals remained relatively stable in third-quarter 2018, said Moody’s Investors Service, New York.

TransUnion, Chicago, said personal loan balances increased by $21 billion in the past year to close 2018 at a record high $138 billion, with much of this growth driven by online loans originated by fintechs.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 245,620 refinances in the fourth quarter, a slight decrease from 253,135 in the third quarter.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a Feb. 15 letter to the Veterans Administration, offered recommendations intended to strengthen an interim rule aimed at deterring loan “churning” against servicemembers and addressing serious implementation issues and operational challenges MBA believes VA needs to address surrounding new borrower disclosures.

Growth in remodeling is fine, for now. But annual growth in the national market for home improvement and repair is expected to slow considerably by the end of the year, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity from the Joint Center for housing Studies of Harvard University.

On January 18, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued final regulations providing guidance on the section 199A pass-through deduction included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The final regulations provide clarity on certain matters of importance to the Mortgage Bankers Association and its members.

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said 4.1 percent of mortgages were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure) in November, down by 1.1 percentage point from a year ago, when it was 5.2 percent.